Protest after ‘unarmed’ black 19 yo shot dead by Madison police

A police officer in Madison, Wisconsin killed a 19-year-old black man following an altercation, triggering an anti-brutality rally in the city. Dozens have taken to the streets chanting, “Black lives matter.”

The killing happened at
around 6:30 pm on Friday. An officer was responding to reports of
a man jumping in and out of traffic, creating a safety hazard,
Police Chief Mike Koval reported.

The officer followed the suspect into an apartment and forced his
way in because he heard a disturbance. In the ensuing fight the
man was injured by gunfire, the chief said.

Koval stressed the officer immediately began to administer first
aid, as did other officers who arrived at the scene. Nevertheless
the man died in a local hospital.

The police did not identify the gunshot victim, but his relatives
said his name was Tony Robinson, a 2014 graduate of Sun Prairie
High School, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

The police said the man was suspected of a recent assault and
battery. They said the preliminary finding at the scene “did
not reflect [sic] a gun or anything of that nature that would
have been used by the subject.”

Following the death, some 100 activists gathered at the scene as
police blocked off the area. They chanted: “Black lives matter”
prayed and drummed. Many of the activists then entered the
Madison City County building, according to videos published on
social media.

Robinson’s aunt, Lorien Carter, described her nephew as
“gentle” and said, “he didn’t deserve” to be
killed. She said his family encouraged peaceful protest.

Jack Spaulding, 17, said he was Robinson’s best friend and added
he was “one of the happiest people I know.”

The Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation is
investigating the shooting. A Madison law introduced in 2014
requires that all homicides involving police are looked into by
an outside agency. The killing on Friday is the third since the
law was adopted.

The death in Madison comes amid a period of keen public attention
to cases of black people being killed by the police. The killing
of a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 triggered
nationwide protest against police brutality and what many
protesters see as racial bias against black minorities.

A federal investigation into Ferguson PD revealed a “toxic
atmosphere” of mistrust between the St. Louis suburb police
force and the predominantly black community. The DoJ is
considering disbanding the department as one of the options for a
planned reform.